Will #3 become #2 B4 #2 becomes #1 ?

Novak Djokovic is currently closer in points to Roger Federer than Roger Federer is close in points to Rafael Nadal. And when considering that Joko may emerge as the Winner in Shanghai, it is conceivable that Joko will end the year at #2 pushing Roger Federer down to #3.

Talk about adding insult to injury. This is on the heels of just a few short months ago, people continuing to lay claim that Federer will go down in History as the Greatest Tennis Player of All Time. You still can't take away what he's done but when you compare what he's done to date in that of what has already been done, you start to see a very different picture.

Losing the French Open this year was not a tremendously troubling defeat when you consider still finding yourself in the Finals against the best Clay Court Player there ever was imo. Mr. Federer was still able to walk onto the Grass with his Head high. But losing Wimbledon to a Clay Specialist, was way too much to swallow. Aside from Roger's win at the Open, we are seeing a very very different Roger Federer of late.

The Year Ending Master's is a time when Players not only get to make a lot of money, but also they get to redeem themselves. Unfortunately, neither Roger nor Rafa made much of an impression in that arena either.
So the current ATP Race stands as such :

Nadal - 1335
Federer - 1041
Djokovic - 929

This is why I never bet on my two favorite sports, Tennis & Football and if I should bet on Football, I never ever bet on my Team.

The only acceptable loss is when your opponent was better than you on that given day.
It is never acceptable to lose when your opponent was not.

Photo Phinish..........

I agree on all points here, this was a very difficult year for Rog standards and I think he will have to dig deep for 2009. However, it was a great year by normal standards when you make a GS semis, 2 GS finals and 5th USO GS title; 13 GS' total. I think that Rog needs to get in the best shape of his life (ala Agassi in '99) and improve his volleys and second serve. If he does that we may see the Rog of 2005-06 once again.

With the emergence of Tsonga, Simon, and Del Potro added to the already improved Murray, Djokovic and Davydenko, the pressure will really be on next year and not only for Rog but more so for Rafa as his injuries will weigh heavy as he tries to maintain his ranking by doing as well or better than this year.

All in all, 2009 will prove to be a very interesting year indeed. Can Rafa stay healthy and maintain #1??? Can Rog break the GS record and win his first FO??? Will Murray, Davydenko, Tsonga or Simon win their first GS title??? Can Nole overtake Rog as the worlds #2???

I second that ... I'm one of those Fans that appreciates the efforts of most Top Players in our Sport. Yes I will admit that I was disappointed that FedEx lost Wimby this year to Rafa. Not because I didn't want Rafa to win but solely because it would have been great for Roger to break Borg's record, who is not one of my favorite people. Sorry Borg Fan but I always tell the truth.

I am amazed at how fantastic Rafa has become. When I first started watching his game, as a coach, I picked it apart and commented on how I felt someone could beat him on Clay. Having said that however, I ended all of my comments by saying the biggest weapon Rafa has is his heart & stamina. When I was younger, I recall a few Players telling me how much they hated playing me because I never gave up on a point and they always had to hit bigger & bigger shots just to win a point.

In short, I factored in how wide a tennis court is based upon my size and ability to estimate percentages. I would try to close off critical areas of a court during a rally and force my opponent to go for very high margin of error shots. If they made it, ok pat your racquet face and say "Good Shot". Then I also factored in a Player's self confidence on crucial points of a match. You can tell when a Player is tightening up, because their shots tend to lack the pop & heaviness they had in earlier games of a match.

By time you're in the 3rd game, if you've paid attention, you can pretty much see where they are strong & weak. *Caution* Do Not Turn a Player's Weakness into their Strength.

That is easily done by thinking a person has a weak BH and so you start pounding away at the BH side and pretty soon, all you've accomplished was drilling their BH. Attack the weakness when you've gotten them in a defensive position.

But Roger has to do much more than work on his Net Game and a few other areas, What I saw of Federer especially at Wimbledon was, his ability to close against Players who can hang with him.
YES even the best in the World *choke*

When Federer won the 3rd & 4th Sets, he clearly had the momentum going into the 5th but he relaxed just a bit mistakenly thinking Rafa would be spent and that was clearly a miscalculation on Roger's part.

People, Tennis is all about what in the head. I can't quote word for word but Boris Becker said,
'When it gets to the 5th Set, it's no longer about Tennis, it's about who wants it more'.

Roger Federer went into the 5th Set of Wimbledon thinking he turned it around and was now in the driver's seat and Rafael Nadal went into it thinking, I'm not going to give it to you, you have to win it.

Prediction:
2009 Australian Open / Either Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray will win
2009 French Open / Rafa will repeat but maybe not against Federer.
2009 Wimbledon / Roger Federer will regain his Title
2009 US Open / Uncertain

The only acceptable loss is when your opponent was better than you on that given day.
It is never acceptable to lose when your opponent was not.

Agreed...........

Originally Posted by Coach

I second that ... I'm one of those Fans that appreciates the efforts of most Top Players in our Sport. Yes I will admit that I was disappointed that FedEx lost Wimby this year to Rafa. Not because I didn't want Rafa to win but solely because it would have been great for Roger to break Borg's record, who is not one of my favorite people.

I completely agree; except I did like Borg

Originally Posted by Coach

I am amazed at how fantastic Rafa has become. When I first started watching his game, as a coach, I picked it apart and commented on how I felt someone could beat him on Clay. Having said that however, I ended all of my comments by saying the biggest weapon Rafa has is his heart & stamina.

Again I completely agree, my only concern is that Rafa is taking too much out of his body to sustain this level of play. If this continues I do not think he will be safe, even on clay.

Originally Posted by Coach

But Roger has to do much more than work on his Net Game and a few other areas, What I saw of Federer especially at Wimbledon was, his ability to close against Players who can hang with him.
YES even the best in the World *choke*

Did you mean "inability???

Originally Posted by Coach

When Federer won the 3rd & 4th Sets, he clearly had the momentum going into the 5th but he relaxed just a bit mistakenly thinking Rafa would be spent and that was clearly a miscalculation on Roger's part.
People, Tennis is all about what in the head. I can't quote word for word but Boris Becker said, 'When it gets to the 5th Set, it's no longer about Tennis, it's about who wants it more'. Roger Federer went into the 5th Set of Wimbledon thinking he turned it around and was now in the driver's seat and Rafael Nadal went into it thinking, I'm not going to give it to you, you have to win it.

I also think that the rain delay allowed Rafa to resync and energize and it was Fed who got tired and choked. That is why I believe Fed needs to get in the best shape of his life as confidence is a "BIG" weapon in the mental and physical aspects; one of Rafa's major weapons.

Originally Posted by Coach

Prediction:
2009 Australian Open / Either Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray will win
2009 French Open / Rafa will repeat but maybe not against Federer.
2009 Wimbledon / Roger Federer will regain his Title
2009 US Open / Uncertain

2009 Australian Open / Either Rog or Andy Murray will win
2009 French Open / Rog's last chance if he is physically superior and Rafa injured again.
2009 Wimbledon / Rog will regain his Title
2009 US Open / Either Rog or Andy Murray will win.

Again I completely agree, my only concern is that Rafa is taking too much out of his body to sustain this level of play. If this continues I do not think he will be safe, even on clay.

Did you mean "inability???

Sorry, typing was never one of my strong suits. Yes, I actually meant inability. He blew a lot of volleys at the net, came in behind very weak approaches against someone who can pass with the best of them and had a tendency to drop the face of his racquet, at the very moment of contact .. which is a big no no.

All in all, Roger often appeared like a Deer in the Headlights against not only Rafa at Wimbledon but also Andy during the USO as well. I wasn't that surprised at how easily Andy beat Roger in the Masters'. However it did make me worry because the Masters was his chance to re-establish himself as a force.

The Fear Factor is huge in Tennis. Players like Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles, the Williams' Sisters can count games that they won merely because of who they are. I recall listening to Anka Huber one time tell Bud Collins, she was afraid of getting Steffi upset. I laughed at that because what that suggested was, if you go out and push the #1 Player in the World around, she's gonna make you look bad if she gets angry, so the strategy is, play well enough to keep it competitive so that you don't look like a Amateur.

Well the guys in the ATP are no longer afraid of Roger and that can only spell trouble for him going forward. What Roger absolutely must do is secure a huge win against Rafa on top of winning at least two of next year's Slams in order to regain his dominant posture.

Originally Posted by TennezSport

2009 Australian Open / Either Rog or Andy Murray will win
2009 French Open / Rog's last chance if he is physically superior and Rafa injured again.
2009 Wimbledon / Rog will regain his Title
2009 US Open / Either Rog or Andy Murray will win.

Cheers, TennezSport

I don't see Roger winning the Aussy in 09' unless he starts the year off with a bang. I mean right now, he should be adding to the workout routine he's normally accustomed to and I also think he needs to commission a S&V Specialist like maybe Johnny Mac to help him with his Net Game that until this year, I never thought was that bad.

Roger is without doubt the 2nd Best Clay Court Player in the World and that ain't a bad place to be except, the French is the Crowning Glory of Achievement for all your work on Clay and unless/until Federer wins the French Title, all of his Clay Court work is for nothing. Yes, you get a nice 2nd place pay check but being the #2 Player in the World now will not gain him much in Quality points and should he not reach the Finals in 09' he'll lose more than he gains.

The problem for Roger is, Rafa is way too far in his head now. Federer is not only afraid of Rafa on Clay but now he's added Grass to this nightmare. Should FedEx find himself once again in the Finals against Nadal, Nadal will win without question. But my position is this, should Roger Federer win the French Open someday, I want it to be against Rafael Nadal above all others.
That's the only way he will feel he's accomplished something special.

One could argue, a title is a title but these guys already have plenty of money and now the Record Books is all they are aspiring for. Roger MUST regain his Title at Wimbledon and beat Rafa at Roland Garros in order for him to regain the Best in the World title again.
That way, people may start to think that this year was just an off year for the King and now the King is back.

The USO is up for grabs imo. There are at least four serious Contenders for the US Open Title next year, so I don't see it as a lock for Roger and certainly not Rafa.

The only acceptable loss is when your opponent was better than you on that given day.
It is never acceptable to lose when your opponent was not.